‘There is no evidence that any of the settlement agreements were procured by bullying, harassment or undue pressure by the claimants,’ said the appeal judges’ ruling.

‘Each settlement agreement records that the employee was independently advised by a named legal adviser.’

The ruling added: ‘The effect of each of the settlement agreements was to put an end to existing or potential litigation and enabled the employees to receive substantial payments.’

Appeal judges said there was a ‘real prospect’ that publication would cause substantial and possible irreversible harm to the claimants.

Harvey Weinstein (Getty)

The Telegraph said in its report that the injunction granted by appeal judges prevented it from revealing ‘alleged sexual harassment and racial abuse of staff’.

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The report added: ‘Non-disclosure agreements have been commonly used in business to protect matters of commercial confidentiality but there are concerns they are now being abused to cover up wrongdoing and deter victims of potential crimes from going to police.’

It went on: ‘The Telegraph spent the past eight months investigating allegations of bullying, intimidation and sexual harassment made against the businessman.’

The newspaper said the appeal judges’ ruling made it ‘illegal to reveal the businessman’s identity or to identify the companies, as well as what he is accused of doing or how much he paid his alleged victims’.

The Court of Appeal has ordered that the matter ‘proceed to a speedy trial’, the paper said.